The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • The impending probes

    SIR: President Muhammadu  Buhari  told Nigerians: “If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us”. This, no doubt, highlights the obviously endemic nature of corruption in Nigeria. There is, perhaps, no other social ill that has made a mess of our nation than corruption. The several policies and programmes of previous administrations in the country have not achieved desired results due to the deep-rooted nature of corruption among the various classes and groups in the country. Almost every sector in the country has been destroyed by corruption. We have spent billions of dollars on the power and oil sectors with little noticeable improvement. Every direction one faces in the country, one is bound to see the evil hand of corruption.

    Over the years, funds meant for the development of public infrastructure have been diverted by public officials and their cohorts for private use. The result is that a greater percentage of Nigerians has been consigned to a miserable life of incredible poverty while very few who are entrusted with the commonwealth have continued to live in inconceivable opulence and affluence.

    With the monumental havoc that corruption has done to our nation and its people, it doesn’t, therefore, sound rational for anyone to affirm that fighting this evil would distract President Buhari from governance. If the issue of corruption is one of the major issues that President Buhari and his government are able to confront frontally, our county would, undoubtedly, be the better for it. Presently, considering the President’s body language in respect of corruption, many public institutions and government officials are beginning to sense the signal and are already falling in line. This is what we need at this point in time. Enough of the rot of the past!

    One major way through which corruption could be tackled in the country is to sanction corrupt officials and individuals as prescribed by the law of the land. The only thing that evil requires to triumph in any society is for evil to constantly go unpunished. It is morally wrong to allow corrupt public officials to enjoy and flaunt their loot while many Nigerians continue to bear the pains of their acts. This is not how to build a sane society where fairness, probity and equity reign.  Enough of the distractions- Let the probes begin!

     

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi,

    Ministry of Information & Strategy,

    Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

  • Not yet time to boast

    •Military chiefs should stop giving the impression that the Boko Haram war is won already

    The boosted morale and commitment of the Nigerian Army with regards to the Boko Haram terrorist group is evident in the string of successes being recorded on the battle front. This must have informed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Borate’s pledge to dislodge and demobilise the militants before the expiration of the three-month target set by President Muhammadu Buhari. The army chief who has been moving round the battle grounds in the North East to encourage the troops said, contrary to the assessment of the general public, the war would be won as the military authorities are committed to ensuring that Nigeria is rid of the evil effects of the group’s activities.

    We have noticed the incapacitation of the sect in many of the cities and towns of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states where they had earlier seized territories. It is obvious that the commitment of President Buhari to restore peace in all parts of the country is paying off. Since he assumed office on May 29, he has embarked on shuttle diplomatic missions to the United States of America, member countries of the Lake Chad Basin and the headquarters of the African Union. At each stop, he tried to mobilise support for the fight against terrorism. As a result, he has restored confidence in the capacity of the Nigerian military to win the war. The American president, said to have refused to sell needed military equipment to prosecute the war has resumed normal cooperation with the Nigerian military, and Nigeria’s contribution to the multinational force set up by the Lake Chad Basin Countries has been paid.

    While frontal attacks on towns and troops have reduced drastically in the past two months, suicide bombers have remained on the prowl. Young girls and boys have continued to deploy Improvised Explosive Devices at strategic points, leading to the death of innocent Nigerians. Displaced people are still unable to return to their homes and the image of Nigeria as an unsafe country is still rife abroad.

    The military chiefs should speak more through action on the battle front than the media. There is no doubt that the equipment required are still in short supply. This much was admitted by the former Commander of the Army Corp of Engineers, Major-General Sardauna Davies at Bonny Camp, Lagos, last week. Describing the militants as a bunch of wanderers and bandits, he admitted that the army was still suffering from a dearth of equipment. This confirms that a lot still has to be done. It is not yet time to boast or celebrate.

    We commend the new team of military chiefs for efforts at collaboration, rather than the competition and rancour that defined relations during the Jonathan era. They should continue along the new line. We also note the role good intelligence gathering has to play in prosecuting the war. In this case, the Chief of Military Intelligence has his role well cut out for him. The Department of State Services should also be accorded a pride of place.

    The war against terrorism is not for the fighting forces alone. The Civilian Task Force deserves commendation for the role it has played so far and as we have pointed out in previous editorials, the military should seize the opportunity to improve on civilian-military relations.

    While appreciable gains have been recorded, it is not time to rest on our oars or become complacent. Nigeria’s pride is at stake. So, all hands must be on deck to ensure that this task is done efficiently and effectively.

  • Saved by the bell

    •Had the FG not changed its mind, 102 officers and 2,500 soldiers could have been sacked unjustly

    News that the Nigerian Army has recalled 102 officers and some 2,500 other ranks, hitherto sacked for alleged desertion, would greatly please the victims. But every thoughtful Nigerian should break into a cold sweat: this massive miscarriage of justice could have stood, had President Goodluck Jonathan won a second term.

    That would have been well and truly tragic. For a country battling the dire challenge of Boko Haram, the security situation would probably even have worsened. If Boko Haram had thrived on citizen alienation and dissonance from the state, sparking fearsome terrorism, one can imagine what such cavalier injustice could have turned the victims into. That reinforces the point that any order that thrives on injustice only digs its own grave.

    The Boko Haram crisis, and the military personnel caught up in its web, is explosively emotive.  The Nigerian state, under President Jonathan, seemed to have no answer to the Boko Haram menace.  The army high command faced near-demystification; and was set to lose its martial swagger. In panic, it would appear to have sent poorly armed soldiers to the war front. But these supposed lions soon turned jelly, faced with superior fire power.

    Should they then have stoically committed avoidable suicide? Or beat some retreat, no matter how untidy, which could have saved their lives but nevertheless opened them up to the charge of desertion — or even, the ultimate disgrace of a soldier being branded a coward?

    But if the state did not provide a soldier all he needs for combat, can the same state morally — and even legally — turn round to charge the victim with desertion; or brand protests that result from such systemic anomalies, “mutiny”?

    That was the grim situation under President Jonathan’s military high command, headed by Air Marshal Alex Barde, former chief of defence staff.  That clear systemic rot was not helped by Marshal Barde’s crass insensitivity, when he declared himself irritated by all of the fuss, since the soldiers could easily have been quietly tried and shot.

    Besides, he added, what the army owed its men were just the uniform and a rifle! But the same Barde, at his pull-out after retirement, admitted the arsenal of the Nigerian military had suffered wilful depletion, over a period of time.

    It is thanks to the majesty of the Nigerian electorate, that voted out President Jonathan, that these service men were virtually saved by the bell — for this verdict reversal would have been near-impossible under the ancien regime.

    Worse: many would have faced the firing squad, leaving their loved ones devastated, with pain, anguish and shame, for it would have been claimed they were cowards rightly shot for bolting, when they should have fought to save fatherland.

    That dire verdict would have been impunity bordering on cold-blooded murder. Yet, the Barde military high command would have spun it as due comeuppance for contemptible deserters, undeserving of the valour and glory of the Nigerian military.

    The grim moral? Offices and laws must be put in the hands of responsible and fair-minded people. The army high command under President Jonathan would appear the direct opposite of such an ethos. That is why the Buhari Presidency should look into ways to officially reprimand that reprehensible conduct, even if each of the involved officers cannot personally be called to account and punished.

    This review is welcome and praise-worthy. But the new military authorities should not stop until every soldier and officer unjustly treated in this saga gets justice. That is the least we can do to restore morale in our armed forces, and recharge our soldiers’ heroic covenant with the Nigerian state.

  • Nigeria arising

    IR: Perhaps the sun is shining on Nigeria.  The beauty of the land is beginning to blossom.  The presence of President Muhammad Buhari on the political landscape is turning new leaves.  Nigerians are feeling hopeful once again.  Those in mourning for many years of decadence in society are trembling to look at the horizon of transparence.  The sunshine is bringing succour.

    Subdued atmosphere in the polity is a refreshing modesty.  There is no longer obscene show of excesses of power by politicians.  The dinosaurs of the not-so-long-ago era pouncing with impunity appear to have been blown away by the breeze of sanity.

    Good things are happening and folks are waking up to a life of civilisation.  An event that might be considered trivial to many economically displaced citizens but of cultural vitality took place in Anambra State recently.  Gov. Willie Obiano is supporting the arts to thrive.  Awka Literary Society showcased a magical poetry extravaganza titled: Return to Idoto.  The two-day charged event was a posthumous celebration of the 85th birthday of the late poet Christopher Okigbo.  Poetry lovers and those who never had the opportunity of such experience watched the spirit of Christopher Okigbo come alive literally through the performances of six great poets from across the country.

    The big attraction at this phenomenal occasion was creativity, the ability of the human spirit to rise above the mundane.  This is what moves a society to greatness and not arrogant posturing by politicians.  The nation lost from gross engagement in the theatre of political recklessness.  The evident consequence is lack of growth.  Leaders without vision have become heroes.  One wishes that the bandits will run and never return.

    Benefits of transparent governance are beginning to show up on Nigerian shores.  Politicians in the past deluded themselves with false representation of the economy.  Foreign investors were not fooled; they have the shrewdest analysts to sift through the garbage of the abused system.  Nonetheless, Nigeria’s endowment is very attractive to business and investors will capitalize.  There is ready-made human and natural resources to grow a powerful economy.

    The missing ingredient has been leadership.  The shift in the mindset of the nation’s leadership is comfortingly projecting towards a positive ground.  The president is bound on a quest to reverse the damage of the past.

    One hopes that after he finishes doing environmental sanitation on corrupt politicians, he will focus on the task of nation building.  Encouragingly, the land is green and will flourish if unadulterated manure is used to cultivate the government.

     

    • Pius Okaneme,

    Umuoji, Anambra State

  • Lalong’s intercession

    Lalong’s intercession

    Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State must be living in the past to have visited President Muhammadu Buhari to intercede for the suspended Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. David Shikfu Parradang. Mr Parradang was suspended by the Federal Government for illegally issuing appointment letters to 700 Assistant Inspectors of Immigration as well as 900 Immigration Assistants III into the NIS without approval. The service’s deputy comptroller-general, Martin Kure Abeshi, was directed to take charge of the NIS immediately.

    Parradang’s letter of suspension, with reference number: CDFIPB/IMM/348/Vol.1/54, dated August 21, 2015, and signed by the Director and Secretary of the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board (CDFIPB), A. A Ibrahim, accused him of “deliberate disregard to the extant laws, insubordination to constituted authority and improper behaviour inimical to the Service that is unbecoming of a public officer…”.

    Not only did Mr Parradang not follow due process in the recruitments, he also, like someone steeped in impunity, refused to take corrective measures when advised to do so. These are serious offences in the civil service and a man who has risen to such a high level in the system as Mr Parradang cannot claim ignorance of this. So, the civil service did the needful by suspending him, if only to serve as deterrence to others.

    That Governor Lalong could travel down to the seat of power to intercede for such a man, and for the reason that he gave, is baffling. Hear him: “Parradang’s case is still under investigation. A man was suspended and he is from Plateau State. It is my concern because I am the governor of the state. For every appointment, we must show concern, no matter how small. The president is handling it. At the end of the day, whatever is the outcome, I will agree with it. But I also need to get some explanation as the governor of the state”.

    If we may ask: would the governor have tolerated such impunity on the part of civil servants in his state? Put succinctly, could any civil servant in Plateau State have recruited without approval as Mr Parradang was said to have done without attracting sanctions? While not saying whether Mr Parradang is guilty or not, the point must be made that inasmuch as the governor has the right to be concerned about matters affecting his state, including appointments of its indigenes into positions of authority, he has no right to dabble into routine official matters at the national level. Even if the issue had happened in his own state, the normal thing is to allow procedure to run its full course.

    The country would not make progress if every governor must visit the president over matters of routine discipline concerning their indigenes. We can only imagine how much time President Buhari would have to attend to state matters if the state governors of public officials that have been sacked by the government since the president came into power in May had come to plead for them. Governor Lalong sure knows that the Federal Civil Service has its extant rules and regulations which must be obeyed by every public official in the service. It is only normal that infringements are punished.

    If, as the governor himself noted, the matter is under investigation, why visit the president? At any rate, going to the president should not even help his cause in any way in a country where structures are left to function unfettered. If at the end of the investigation Mr Parradang is innocent, he would return to his seat and if he is found guilty, the board must apply appropriate sanctions. The earlier we allow our system operate unfettered, the better for us all.  

  • Protecting local content

    •Is Agip riding roughshod over an indigenous oil firm?

    Oil industry experts seem to believe that one major reason the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has not seen the light of day is because of the overarching influence the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have over Nigeria’s oil sector. These giant firms include Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC), Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total and Nigerian Agip Oil Company, (Agip).

    These oil majors that have operated in the country since pre-independence sometimes wield such powers and influence that are overwhelming even among government circles. At a point in Nigeria’s history, the leading ones among them were said to have their own police and quasi-army. In fact they did not only have the capacity to critically influence the course of government, they could actually effect a change in government.

    While this may have been possible in the  military era, so much have changed in the polity now. Notwithstanding, occasional muscle-flexing and power shows still go on. Perhaps this undergirds the long-running tiff between one of the majors, Agip and an indigenous oil service firm, Arco Petrochemical Engineering Company Plc., (Arco).

    According to reports, Agip, an oil giant, may be dealing unfairly with a small indigenous oil service firm for the following reasons: One, Agip which has Italian origin, is accused of unilaterally revoking its service contract with Arco, and awarding same to another oil service firm of Italian origin, not minding the requirements of the local content laws. Two, Agip is said to have repudiated a court injunction that status quo ante be maintained in the matter between the two firms. And three, Agip is alleged to have taken advantage of the crises in Nigeria’s petroleum industry to trample upon Arco and deny it of a legitimate business proposition.

    As the story goes, in 2006,  Agip signed a maintenance contract with Arco which had Nuovo Pignone as its foreign technical partner. It was a five-year contract which lapsed in 2011.  The contract was for the maintenance of Agip’s Obob/Kwale/Ebocha Gas Plant. This is a strategic plant that supplies gas to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG); Eleme Petrochemicals and Omoku Power Plant. Arco had also carried out an interim contract up till 2013; six months of which it handled alone without foreign partners because the Niger Delta areas were too hot for expatriates at that point.

    All these contracts were approved by the board of the joint venture partner, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS). However, when time came to award another five-year contract, Arco was literally bypassed and the job was unilaterally handed to an Italian oil service firm based in Nigeria, Plantgeria.

    The NNPC board was supposed to approve all such contracts but because it did not meet for quite a while, Agip acted unilaterally. Though the oil major averred that it offered the job to the firm with the most cost-effective bid, Plantgeria, having quoted $10 million against $37 million for which Arco had done the job all these years.

    But Arco insists that Agip was being clever by half and economical with the truth. It stated that it is not possible to deliver the sort of maintenance job it does for the sum Plantgeria has bid; besides, the low bid must be a ploy to remove Arco from the picture only to increase the contract sum down the line. It also noted that the offshore component of the job handled by its new technical partner, GE had been extracted from the contract. In other words, the contract had been split.

    To buttress the point that it has been hard done by, Arco says that both Plantgeria and GE are now poaching its staff.

    We will urge Agip to endeavour to be sensitive to the local content laws and requirements of the country. And since the matter is in court, we urge both parties to return to status quo as requested by the court.

  • Abandoned rail tracks

    Abandoned rail tracks

    • It’s time to get the project back on track for commerce and ease of traffic on our roads

    It is such a pity that the Federal Government’s newly rehabilitated rail loop linking various oil tank farms at Apapa, Lagos, have been overtaken by thick bush months after rehabilitation. The project, handled by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), has not been used since its completion in December last year, and it cost the Federal Government about N1.6billion. The tank farms, which involved laying of tracks into the farm yards, would have been used to haul petroleum products directly into the tank wagons.

    Indeed, the tracks were even upgraded from 60 to 85 pounds to enable them withstand the expected increase in weight that will result from the direct haulage of petroleum products by rail. It is worthy to note that the rail tracks have been there since the colonial days. Oil Companies involved in the project included A-Z Petroleum, Oando Petroleum, Total Petroleum, Mobil, Eurafric Energy Ltd and Forte Oil.

    It is indeed unfortunate that the newly rehabilitated tracks have not been used despite the huge investment in it. This was a project conceptualised to ease movement of petroleum products from oil depots, and the NRC has repeatedly boasted that it has the capacity to move 900,000 litres of petrol at an equivalent of 30 trucks at once, and dedicated two big trains that can move 1.8 million litres of petrol (PMS) to the project. Sadly, months after all the sweet talks started, movement of PMS by rail has yet to commence.

    The situation is not helped by a subtle disagreement between the NRC and oil marketers who are skeptical of the arrangement since rail haulage may mean a loss of investment on their hundreds of trucks on the roads. They also fear it would further lead to job losses on the part of tanker drivers. Furthermore, it means a renegotiation of the cost of petroleum products, as lifting by rail would possibly drive down the cost of haulage and the retail price. All of these concerns can be addressed; and none is sufficient to put on hold a project on which huge public funds had been spent.

    The failure of the rail line and its sorry state after N1.6bn had been invested on it is another sad commentary on the way the country has been run. All over the world, railway is seen as a very important means of transportation of goods and humans which should be given priority attention by the government. Indeed, ours is one of the few backward countries where fuel is lifted by trucks.

    The advantages which are being lost by such negligence include; one, many trucks (articulated vehicles) would have been taken off our roads if the project had been operational, thereby reducing carnage and traffic logjams on the roads, both in the cities and the highways, as well as ensuring longer life span for the roads. The Buhari administration should therefore treat this rail line project as a matter of priority for its economic advantages, and ensure that it makes it come on stream without further delay.

    Form the look of things, the NRC appears ready to commence operations on the tracks.  The corporation said it had “gone ahead to do all the slidings for the major oil marketers and has acquired wagons which are to be used for the movement across the country”. We urge the other stakeholders to cooperate with it so that it can commence lifting of products in earnest once discussions were concluded and all safety concerns resolved.

    ‘The failure of the rail line and its sorry state after N1.6bn had been invested on it is another sad commentary on the way the country has been run. All over the world, railway is seen as a very important means of transportation of goods and humans which should be given priority attention by the government. Indeed, ours is one of the few backward countries where fuel is lifted by trucks’

  • Complicating the peace

    Complicating the peace

    •It’s time for the National Peace Committee to go

    As its name may suggest, the National Peace Committee for the 2015 General Elections has probably outlived its usefulness. The elections have been won and lost across the country. So why is the group still going about with a sense of relevance and giving the impression that it is busy making efforts to maintain peace in the polity?

    In particular, the critical March 28 presidential election that produced President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is now history. Considering that the committee was constituted in response to palpable public fears about a possible eruption of disorder arising from the presidential election, the concrete reality of a Buhari presidency should imply closure for its business.

    The committee has been useful as an agent of peace, especially in getting Buhari and then President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to sign an agreement to maintain the peace, irrespective of the result of the presidential poll. With that chapter over, it is puzzling that the committee seems to have promoted itself to another level of keeping the post-election peace. An explanation by the group’s spokesman, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, concerning its meeting with President Buhari on August 11 is instructive: “We gave a bit of update about the relevance of the Peace Committee itself and how we can help to nurture what God has given to us.”

    Curiously, the committee’s visit to Buhari came barely three days after Jonathan had paid him a secret visit, raising public suspicion of its motive. Kukah compounded this suspicion by what he said about Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, which many interpreted as pro-Jonathan. Kukah said: “I think what we are concerned about is process. It is no longer a military regime and under our existing laws everybody is innocent until proven guilty.” Certainly, the Buhari administration didn’t need such a lesson. Also, the logic appeared to be corruption-friendly.

    Public criticism of this posture has been vigorous, and it is unlikely that the committee can regain popular confidence. This development is further proof that the committee is no longer regarded as a vehicle for peace. Having lost its initial raison d’être, it should be put to a deserved rest.

    Elongation of the committee’s life would mean a continuing association between the Buhari administration and its members, which may have negative implications because some of them have been linked with suspected large-scale scams. Furthermore, the committee’s variegated membership reflects various interests and tendencies, which are likely to create internal divisions outside the primary purpose for which it was started – preventing chaos in the aftermath of the 2015 presidential election.

    Present at the meeting with Buhari were former military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. Also in attendance were Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mrs Priscilla Kuye, and Senator Ben Obi.

    ‘The committee has been useful as an agent of peace, especially in getting Buhari and then President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to sign an agreement to maintain the peace, irrespective of the result of the presidential poll. With that chapter over, it is puzzling that the committee seems to have promoted itself to another level of keeping the post-election peace’ 

    Evidence of conflicting ideas among the committee’s members manifested when the Sultan of Sokoto said at a well-publicised event after the meeting with Buhari: “It is our belief that all those found guilty should not only have their entire assets seized and forfeited to government but also face jail sentences.”  It is noteworthy that the Sultan didn’t sound like Bishop Kukah.

    There is also the issue of nomenclature as Buhari reportedly referred to the committee as a council, which suggests an institutional capacity that it lacks and should not be invested with.  In the final analysis, instead of complicating the peace, it is time for the committee to cease to exist.

     

  • Medicare for sale?

    Medicare for sale?

    •To privatise or not to privatise, that is the question now in Nigeria’s health sector

    The furor over the proposed policy of Private Public Partnership (PPP) in the health sector cannot be wished away because of its likely implications for access to healthcare by majority of poor Nigerians. The Yayale Committee Report on disharmony in the health sector gave a hint of government’s preparedness to adopt the policy.

    The report calls for the privatisation of federal hospitals in the country through the system of PPP. In retrospection, we recollect that the debate over the suitability of the idea started since 2006 when the National Council on Health (NCH) purportedly looked into the idea and approved it initially under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration and last year under the President Jonathan’s administration.

    Sadly however, the initiative has thrown the health sector into avoidable pandemonium with the medical doctors supporting the idea and other stakeholders in the sector opposing it. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA) and Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) have been at daggers drawn over the suitability or otherwise of the policy idea. Clearly, the medical doctors are in support of the idea while those belonging to sister associations are against the idea. This altercation becomes unfortunate because the health care sector in recent times has faced damning strikes and other avoidable challenges including inadequate funding and corrupt disposition by personnel. So, any attempt, in our view, at ignoring these discordant tunes might further aggravate an already bad situation.

    To us, competition is nonsense when it comes to healthcare as choice becomes illusory. The perception that competitiveness breeds quality and that market forces drive efficiency from the nation’s experience can sometimes be exaggerated. It is a perceived fact that privatization of the hospitals could become a recipe for over-treatment, overcharging and corner cutting on the delicate issues of human health and safety. What privatisation of hospitals might lead to, going by the Nigerian experience with privately owned hospitals, is high costs and inefficiency. Patients suffer since they are left at the mercy of investors who ceaselessly seek to make returns and maximise profits to the detriment of proper healthcare delivery.

    ‘We do not think that privatisation is the solution here. Rather, the hospitals should be made substantially autonomous and self-sustaining. In many parts of the world, private hospitals and public ones run together. Health is too important to be left in the hands of private investors alone’

    We aver that privatisation of these hospitals is likely to be inimical to the wellbeing of Nigerians who are already living below poverty line. Why would hospitals not work despite the huge resources that government votes for the health sector yearly? We recollect that most of these hospitals competed with their counterparts in other parts of the world a few decades ago. This is why it is disheartening to see that things have deteriorated so much that the only option left seems to be privation. The hospitals, like most other government institutions, started to fail as a result of over-centralisation. Another problem is that of overzealous policing that is ineffective to allow for thorough monitoring of government establishments, including hospitals, which creates a bureaucracy that allows corruption to fester.

    We do not think that privatisation is the solution here. Rather, the hospitals should be made substantially autonomous and self-sustaining. In many parts of the world, private hospitals and public ones run together. Health is too important to be left in the hands of private investors alone. There should be option of making top public hospitals to be affordable for the less privileged. Whatever the case, some of the problems that made the hospitals derelict are traceable to corruption and that needs to be dealt with.

  • Quintessential diplomat at 90

    Quintessential diplomat at 90

    • Ambassador Olujimi Jolaoso achieves landmark age

    One of Nigeria’s iconic and most distinguished diplomats, Ambassador Olujimi Jolaoso, OFR, turned 90 on August 19. The happy occasion was marked by a Thanksgiving and Holy Communion Service at the Hoare’s Memorial Methodist Cathedral, at Yaba, and a modest

    reception afterwards in the church hall. Both events were well attended. Many of his friends, admirers, family, and former professional colleagues turned out to honour this man of impeccable and gracious manners who, in his long and outstanding public career, served Nigeria  well.

    Born in Ilugun in former Western Nigeria, Ambassador Jolaoso was educated at Igbobi College, Yaba, and the Yaba Higher College, from where he entered the new University College, Ibadan, in 1948. He was one of its pioneering students. In 1951, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in the Arts of the University of London, to which the UCI was then affiliated, winning the Faculty Prize in English. He took up appointment immediately as an Education Officer in the old Western Region. A year later, he won a colonial government scholarship to study for a postgraduate diploma in Education at the Institute of Education of the University of London. He was a keen sportsman and a great sprinter in his days at UCI, setting national records in the 100 yards and relay. Jolaoso also won the University of London’s ’Purple’ in the London/Oxford/Cambridge Universities athletics competition.

    He returned home in 1953 to resume a teaching career that took him to several famous schools and colleges, such as Igbobi College, Yaba, the Queen’s School, Ede, the Government College, Edo (Benin), and the Government College, Ibadan. In all these schools, he impacted positively on his students, many of whom, now highly successful, hold him in high esteem, and were at his 90th birthday celebrations.

    In 1958, he entered the newly established Foreign Service, one of its pioneers, as it started only a year before. He immediately made his mark there as well. As independence approached, his good looks, pleasant manners, and personal warmth earned him appointment as Nigeria’s first state Chief of Protocol, a highly visible and sensitive position that brought him into regular contact with Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and other visiting foreign dignitaries during the celebration of Nigeria’s Independence Day. It was a proud moment for him and the nation. Soon after, he was posted to our High Commission in London as deputy High Commissioner, and later to our new diplomatic mission in Kinshasa (then the Congo). He had a meteoric rise in his diplomatic career, serving as Ambassador in Western Germany, Ambassador in Liberia, Consul General in New York, and finally as Ambassador in Washington, with concurrent accreditation to Mexico. On his return to the ministry, he was appointed a director-general and, at various times, he was placed in charge of Administration and Africa Departments.

    In his memoirs, “In the Shadows’, regarded as a classic, he wrote candidly about his long years in the Diplomatic Service, the challenges he had to face there, and his memorable moments. His ardent patriotism, diligence, and professionalism were amply demonstrated in his entire career as one of Nigeria’s greatest public servants. His legacy is one of which he and his family can be proud. In 2000, he was conferred with the national award of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR), an honour thoroughly deserved. He also holds the chieftaincy titles of Babatolu of Egbaland, and Maiyegun of Ilugun.

    He has been happily married to his wife, Marcie, for nearly 60 years, and the marriage is blessed with two sons, Abayomi and Bankole, as well as many grandchildren.

    We join his family and friends in wishing him many more years of happiness, contentment, and self fulfillment.

    ‘His ardent patriotism, diligence, and professionalism were amply demonstrated in his entire career as one of Nigeria’s greatest public servants. His legacy is one of which he and his family can be proud’